Interesting books for 8 years old girl?

[sonamay]

Can anyone recommend a nice and interesting books for a girl (age 8), but a very confident reader. Thanks

[DilysPrice]

What does she like? fairies, princesses, dinosaurs, spaceships, explosions, history, geography, animals?
What books has she enjoyed in the past?

[NickOfTime]

dd1 was well into harry potter at 8. she read the first one and got hooked so read them all except the last one (because she said it was too grown up).

all three of mine are into the percy jackson series at the moment. my 8yo is obsessed by them. (happens to be a boy, but i think the series is fine for girls too - feisty female characters etc - my girls (10 and 6) are reading them too)

but there are shelves and shelves of 'pink' books that girls will devour as well, just i can't think of any that deserve a mention.

oh, the lemony snicket books are good too if she's not quite ready for percy jackson or harry potter.



jacqueline wilson has some books for that age group too, but check content. some are for older readers.

[sonamay]

she read Roal Dahl, magic puppies, fairies books.

[NickOfTime]

oh, ok. you might need to scale it back a bit then.

stuff in a similar vein that dd2 likes - all the animal hospital/ animal rescue stuff - magic ponies. judy blume (not the teen one , ramona books.

(i love the junie b. jones series, but it starts with kindergarten/ first grade, so a little younger. goes up though, can't remember how many there are...)

they are all a bit tricksy really though - devoured within 20 minutes so a bit of a waste of money if you're buying. library?

she should be fine with lemony snicket though?

[onimolap]

I loved The Little White Horse at about that age. Also the Chalet School books, and the Pullein-Thompson and Joanna Canaan pony books. DS preferred the earlier Alex Rider books, Varjak Paw and the Guiness Book of Records.

[NickOfTime]

ds was obsessed by the guiness book of records too

[bluejeans]

Have you tried the Araminta Spook books? There's a series of five and they are beautifully produced, illustrated hardbacks. I've been buying them for £2.99 including postage from independent booksellers via Amazon (brand new) for my DD. She's 10 but it sounds as if your DD's reading might be more advanced

[SecretNutellaFix]

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
What Katy Did
101 Dalmations
Children of Winter by Berlie Doherty

Michael Morpurgo and Philippa Pearce are usually pretty good for that age as is Nina Bawden (Carrie's war)

[basildonbond]

has she read the worst witch books? there's quite a few and at the Roald Dahl/magic puppies etc reading level

dd has recently read 101 Dalmations (loved it), Roman Mysteries, Charmed Life (and other Chrestomanci books), Diary of a Killer Cat (v easy, but v funny), Diary of a Wimpy Kid (ditto), Cressida Cowell's How to Train Your Dragon series, Daisy and the Trouble with ... series, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat and Ottoline goes to School, The Far-Flung adventures series (Corby Flood etc) - that should keep her going :)

[cazzybabs]

My dd loves the Mrs Pamplemouse books - they take her a couple of hours but she loves them. Plus she is into swallows and amazons.

[notanidea]

I recorded swalows on amazon for her and she wants to read it(dd is 9).
Has she read clarice bean - really lovely books.
Anne fine books for younger children.
Can she read comics- dd adores tintin.

[weegiemum]

Lemony Snicket
Famous Five
Wimpy Kid
Jacqueline Wilson (but screen for content, my 10yo is still a but freaked out after reading "Lola Rose")
The Terry Pratchett Kids books are good - Truckers, Diggers, Wings, Only You Can Save Mankind
Any of the Enid Blyton school stories too - Malory Towers, etc

[notanidea]

dd is reading johnny and the dead , maurice and his educated rodents- dont seem to be really into either of them ,. hmmm

Astrid Lidgrens -the brothers lionheart,pippi longstocking

[pugsandseals]

Linda Chapman is the perfect follow-on from the fairies books. Try Stardust, Genie Us, Sky Horses series (not the younger aimed Mermaid & Unicorn series).

[cymruoddicatref]

How about Penelope Lively's "The Ghost of Thomas Kempe" - my personal favourite - and the children loved it too.

We also adored the trilogy by Steve Augarde that begins with volume one "The Various" - a tribe of fairies who are as tall as your knee, living in Royal Wood. I saw their influence on my daughters' own story writing for months afterwards.

[DiscoDaisy]

My 8yr old DD has been reading the Malory Towers series and The Famous Five.Enid Blyton's mystery series went down really well as well.

[pointydog]

Wimpy Kids books v popular, funny and pacy.

The Emily Windsnape books about the mermaid are rather lovely. Hav e a look at them.

I do think there are so many modern books that are more appealing to the young 'uns than our own old faithfuls.

[pointydog]

I'd've said the likes of Pratchett's Maurice... is really for older kids. Quite a bit of subtle humour even though the plot and language are straightforward.

[zgaze]

Haven't read through the thread so sorry if someone has suggested this - I bought my 9 year old niece a box set of books about a fantasy world populated by cats called Warrior by Erin Hunter and she adored them. There's loads of sequels for ongoing present ideas as well!

[JeffVadar]

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster was a huge hit with DS at that age.

Also authors like Nina Bawden, Helen Cresswell and Joan Aiken (Wolves of Willoughby Chase and books like that).

[MrsDoofenshmirtz]

Anna Dale is good Dawn Undercover, Whispering to witches and Spellbound.

Frozen in Time Ali Sparks. Has a hint of famous five butby is much more exciting IMO.

[cymruoddicatref]

We loved Frozen in Time - also Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book was very good. We also liked Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror, but the sequel was a big disappointment - bad, nasty writing. My daughter also loved the books by Chris Mound - the Icy Hand etc

[pointydog]

We didn't like Graveyard Tales here. Very unsatisfactory, I thought. Although Coraline a big hit (but prob too creepy for many 8 yr olds.

[MrsDoofenshmirtz]

Thats interesting pointy - I didn't like it either despite the award. I thought it was just a poor copy of The Jungle Book. Shame, I usually like Neil Gaimans writing.

[pointydog]

It all became clear, doofen, when gaiman said in the afterword that he started the book at chapter 4 and then filled in the rest of the plot.

There was no rest-of-the-plot! Why did the creepy guy want to kill the baby? What on earth did that one single paragraph mean about some evil world order?

The lazy lack of plot really bothered me. Can you tell?